Spoilers herein.
I make a hobby out of finding interesting things in bad movies. Soft porn is a pretty promising playground for this because so many talented people seem to be involved while waiting for something else.
And gosh, this project is almost worth recommending.
As a thriller it actually works! -- at least so far as the way that the story is structured and paced. The acting is generally bad but in a twist the supporting actors are much worse than the main ones. In fact Angie is no worse than what we accept from Julia Roberts. That's not saying much, and what she does is far less than what the role demands. But that's because the role is surprisingly complex and demanding. Grieco is even better in his greasy Mickey Rourke manner. He is the person who made this happen outside the film and within it. He's not a Vincent Gallo, but there is an edge there. His director and cinematographer let him down though.
As old fashioned late eighties soft porn, it sort of works too I suppose. I continue to be amazed at the rocking horse moaning that is supposed to represent copulation. I continue to be repelled at the defacing of natural beauty these women go through for increased breast size. The real star of these scenes is the actress who plays Lisa, the woman killed in the beginning. She is pretty good at what she does and not unnaturally deformed either. Her effects are taken from the much superior "Realm of the Senses." Elsewhere, in her supposedly "frumpy" mode, Angie actually is attractive.
Oh well, the real prize for slogging through it is what I call "folding." That's where elements are reflected in other elements, most often in selfaware selfreference. For instance, we have here a photographed film whose chief character is a photographer, and the discovery of his relationship (the relationship of what he does and photographs to what we see as photographed) is through photographs of secondary characters. There are lots of overlaps where what we see as the film are snaps of photographs IN the film. Some art gallery conversation about folding of the photographer's erotic art.
There are few reflections of who controls who: a relatively novel juxtaposition of the criminal justice system and bondage and domination in sex. This blurs into the obligatory soft porn convention of our heroine having sex with at least two men. Not unclever. One is the cop, the other the "bad" guy naturally. More: the folding of Angie?s past with what we see ? and why ? is the final revelation.
For me, it is another fine example of how ordinary these sophisticated notions have become. Just this time, the film was of much higher quality than usual.
Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 4: Has some interesting elements.
I make a hobby out of finding interesting things in bad movies. Soft porn is a pretty promising playground for this because so many talented people seem to be involved while waiting for something else.
And gosh, this project is almost worth recommending.
As a thriller it actually works! -- at least so far as the way that the story is structured and paced. The acting is generally bad but in a twist the supporting actors are much worse than the main ones. In fact Angie is no worse than what we accept from Julia Roberts. That's not saying much, and what she does is far less than what the role demands. But that's because the role is surprisingly complex and demanding. Grieco is even better in his greasy Mickey Rourke manner. He is the person who made this happen outside the film and within it. He's not a Vincent Gallo, but there is an edge there. His director and cinematographer let him down though.
As old fashioned late eighties soft porn, it sort of works too I suppose. I continue to be amazed at the rocking horse moaning that is supposed to represent copulation. I continue to be repelled at the defacing of natural beauty these women go through for increased breast size. The real star of these scenes is the actress who plays Lisa, the woman killed in the beginning. She is pretty good at what she does and not unnaturally deformed either. Her effects are taken from the much superior "Realm of the Senses." Elsewhere, in her supposedly "frumpy" mode, Angie actually is attractive.
Oh well, the real prize for slogging through it is what I call "folding." That's where elements are reflected in other elements, most often in selfaware selfreference. For instance, we have here a photographed film whose chief character is a photographer, and the discovery of his relationship (the relationship of what he does and photographs to what we see as photographed) is through photographs of secondary characters. There are lots of overlaps where what we see as the film are snaps of photographs IN the film. Some art gallery conversation about folding of the photographer's erotic art.
There are few reflections of who controls who: a relatively novel juxtaposition of the criminal justice system and bondage and domination in sex. This blurs into the obligatory soft porn convention of our heroine having sex with at least two men. Not unclever. One is the cop, the other the "bad" guy naturally. More: the folding of Angie?s past with what we see ? and why ? is the final revelation.
For me, it is another fine example of how ordinary these sophisticated notions have become. Just this time, the film was of much higher quality than usual.
Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 4: Has some interesting elements.